Tom Hess, a University of North Carolina professor and author of a new study inPerspectives on Psychological Science, is trying to understand a strange finding: Even though older adults show declines when they are given tests of cognitive function, they often continue working (and living) at a high level that doesn’t appear to reflect much of a decline. What, then, aren’t the tests capturing, and why?

At issue, argues Hess in the study’s press release, is the difference between “cognitive performance,” which refers to performance “under test conditions,” and “cognitive functioning,” which “refers to an individual’s ability to deal with mental tasks in daily life”

APS always saves some of the best for last — does that mean we’d pass the marshmallow test? Every year, the Annual Convention’s can’t-miss Symposium Sunday offers cutting-edge findings on urgent public and scientific topics. In New York, these include research on attitudes about climate change and nontraditional methods for delivering cognitive-behavioral therapy.